Chapter C: C. Thach, president Alabama Polytechnic Institute 9, 39

Alice S. Tyler, secretary Iowa Library Commission,
Des Moines, Iowa 47

Irene Van Kleeck 36

MATERIAL FOR A PUBLIC LIBRARY CAMPAIGN

One of the most effective means of conducting a library campaign, especially in its early stage, is through the press. Not only will the reading and thinking part of the people thereby be reached, but any library editorial appearing in a newspaper, will, because of the public notice given it, receive greater consideration than if printed elsewhere. Library Commission workers and library supporters in general, have felt the need of printed material which could be made immediately available in a library campaign. Most library addresses and articles are too long, too scholarly in treatment or have lacked that crisp style necessary for use in the press.

Editors of newspapers are slow to accept for printing, signed editorials which have seen service elsewhere. It is suggested that the material here compiled be made as local as possible in its application to individual communities, and that the editorials be sent to newspapers unsigned by the original writers. The same editorials should not be sent to neighboring communities, at least in their original form. Every attempt should be made to have them appear as fresh and spontaneous as possible. Different editorials should always be sent the several papers in the same city.

The material here compiled is suggestive and sufficiently comprehensive to meet ordinary conditions. Much valuable material has been taken from circulars sent out by the Library Commissions of Oregon, Wisconsin and Iowa.

No better advice could be given in opening a public library campaign through the public press than the following, in the Wisconsin Free Library Commission Circular of Information, No. 5:

1 Citizens of ---- believe in free public libraries. They need organization and courage to attack local problems rather than long homilies on the value of good literature.

2 Public sentiment needs time to ripen. Frequent short articles running through the issues of a few weeks are better than a few long ones.

3 Make the articles breezy, optimistic, with local application. You can get a library if you are in earnest.

4 Appeal to local pride. Civic patriotism is the basis of civic improvement. Give the names of familiar towns of similar size which have good libraries.

5 Do not rely solely on editorials. Get brief communications from citizens, but have each letter make only one point, and that crisply.

6 Do not waste space rebutting trivial arguments. Refute them by affirmative statements.

7 Get brief interviews with visitors from towns where they have good libraries, and with your own townsmen who have visited neighboring libraries.

8 Keep this fact in mind--Your people want a library and only need pluck and a leader.

9 Remember that the worst enemy of the movement is the talker who wants a library very much, in the "sweet bye and bye," when all other public improvements are completed.

10 When it is time to strike--strike hard. Apologies and faint hearts never won any kind of a contest.

CHALMERS HADLEY, Secretary American Library Association.

WHAT A PUBLIC LIBRARY DOES FOR A COMMUNITY

1 It doubles the value of the education the child receives in school, and, best of all, imparts a desire for knowledge which serves as an incentive to continue his education after leaving school; and, having furnished the incentive, it further supplies the means for a life-long continuance of education.

2 It provides for the education of adults who have lacked, or failed to make use of, early opportunities.

3 It furnishes information to teachers, ministers, journalists, physicians, legislators, all persons upon whose work depend the intellectual, moral, sanitary and political welfare and advancement of the people.

4 It furnishes books and periodicals for the technical instruction and information of mechanics, artisans, manufacturers, engineers and all others whose work requires technical knowledge--of all persons upon whom depends the industrial progress of the city.

5 It is of incalculable benefit to the city by affording to thousands the highest and purest entertainment, and thus lessening crime and disorder.

6 It makes the city a more desirable place of residence, and thus retains the best citizens and attracts others of the same character.

7 More than any other agency, it elevates the general standard of intelligence throughout the great body of the community, upon which its material prosperity, as well as its moral and political well-being, must depend.

Finally, the public library includes potentially all other means of social betterment. A library is a living organism, having within itself the capacity of infinite growth and reproduction. It may found a dozen museums and hospitals, kindle the train of thought that produces beneficent inventions, and inspire to noble deeds of every kind, all the while imparting intelligence and inculcating industry, thrift, morality, public spirit and all those qualities that constitute the wealth and well-being of a community.

F. M. CRUNDEN.

WHAT A FREE LIBRARY DOES FOR A COUNTRY TOWN

1 It keeps boys at home in the evening by giving them well-written stories of adventure.

2 It gives teachers and pupils interesting books to aid their school work in history and geography, and makes better citizens of them by enlarging their knowledge of their country and its growth.

3 It provides books on the care of children and animals, cookery and housekeeping, building and gardening, and teaches young readers how to make simple dynamos, telephones and other machines.

4 It helps clubs that are studying history, literature or life in other countries, and throws light upon Sunday-school lessons.

5 It furnishes books of selections for reading aloud, suggestions for entertainments and home amusements, and hints on correct speech and good manners.

6 It teaches the names and habits of the plants, birds and insects of the neighborhood, and the differences in soil and rock.

7 It tells the story of the town from its settlement, and keeps a record of all important events in its history.

8 It offers pleasant and wholesome stories to readers of all ages.

CAROLINE M. HEWINS.

Let the boys find in the free library wholesome books of adventure, and tales such as a boy likes; let the girls find the stories which delight them and give their fancy and imagination exercise; let the tired housewife find the novels which will transport her to an ideal realm of love and happiness; let the hardworked man, instead of being expected always to read "improving" books of history or politics, choose that which will give him relaxation of mind and nerve--perhaps the "Innocents Abroad," or Josh Billings's "Allminax," or "Samanthy at Saratoga."

W. I. FLETCHER.

WHY WE NEED A LIBRARY

A public library in our community would be an influence for good every day in the week.

It would make the town more attractive to the class of people we want as residents and neighbors.

It would mould the characters of the children in our homes.

A good library would get gifts from wealthy citizens. No other public institution offers so fitting an opportunity for a public-spirited citizen to help his neighbors and win their approval and affection.

A library in ---- would be the center of our intellectual life and would stimulate the growth of all kinds of clubs for study and debating.

It is a great part of our education to know how to find facts. No man knows everything, but the man who knows how to find an indispensable fact quickly has the best substitute for such knowledge. We need a library to carry forward in a better manner the education of the children who leave school; to give them a better chance for self-education. We need it to give thoughts and inspiration to the teachers of the people, those who in the schoolroom or pulpit, on the rostrum, or with the pen attempt to instruct or lead their fellow citizens. We need it to help our mechanics in their employments, to give them the best thoughts of the best workers in their lines, whether these thoughts come in books or papers or magazines.

WISCONSIN FREE LIBRARY COMMISSION.

The public library is an adult school; it is a perpetual and life-long continuation class; it is the greatest educational factor that we have; and the librarian is becoming our most important teacher and guide.

SIR WALTER BESANT.

WHAT A LIBRARY DOES FOR A TOWN

1 Completes its educational equipment, carrying on and giving permanent value to the work of the schools.

2 Gives the children of all classes a chance to know and love the best in literature. Without the public library such a chance is limited to the very few.

3 Minimizes the sale and reading of vicious literature in the community, thus promoting mental and moral health.

4 Effects a great saving in money to every reader in the community. The library is the application of common sense to the problem of supply and demand. Through it every reader in the town can secure at a given cost from 100 to 1000 times the material for reading or study that he could secure by acting individually.

5 Appealing to all classes, sects and degrees of intelligence, it is a strong unifying factor in the life of a town.

6 The library is the one thing in which every town, however poor or isolated, can have something as good and inspiring as the greatest city can offer. Neither Boston nor New York can provide better books to its readers than the humblest town library can easily own and supply.

7 Slowly but inevitably raises the intellectual tone of a place.

8 Adds to the material value of property. Real estate agents in the suburbs of large cities never fail to advertise the presence of a library, if there be one, as giving added value to the lots or houses they have for sale.

A. W. in NEW YORK LIBRARIES.

HELPFUL THINGS DONE BY LIBRARIES FOR TEACHERS AND CHILDREN

1 Graded lists (sometimes annotated) of books suitable for children are printed as part of the library's finding lists.

2 Bulletins of books for special days are printed.

3 Lists of books on special subjects are printed.

4 Topics being studied in the schools are illustrated by special exhibits at the libraries.

5 Study rooms in the libraries are maintained for the pupils of the high schools and the higher grammar grades.

6 Children's or young people's rooms are maintained at the libraries, where the children may come into personal contact with a trained children's librarian and with hundreds of books on open shelves.

7 Story hours or readings for children are conducted at the libraries.

8 Training in reference work, in the use of books and libraries, in the use of finding lists, card catalogs, indexes, etc., is given by library assistants: (a) to teachers at the library; (b) at the library to individual pupils and classes that come there; (c) at the schools to the pupils in their rooms.

9 Lectures on classification, bibliographies, and catalogs are given by members of the library staff for teachers and normal school students.

10 Special study rooms for teachers are provided.

11 Special educational collections are shelved for use by the teachers.

12 Cases of about 50 books (traveling libraries as it were) are prepared by libraries and sent to schoolrooms to remain for a year or less, teachers to issue books for home use.

13 Branch reading--and delivery--rooms are opened in schools, in charge of library assistants, with supply of books on hand for circulation and facilities for drawing others from the main library.

14 Assistant librarians are placed in charge of work with schools.

15 In large cities complete branch libraries are established in schools on the outskirts of the cities.

16 Special collections of books are furnished to vacation schools.

17 Special cards are issued to teachers on which they may draw more than the usual number of volumes at a time.

18 Teachers and principals are allowed to draw a number of volumes for (a) reading by children at school; (b) reading by children at home.

PUBLIC LIBRARIES.

LIBRARIES, A PUBLIC BENEFACTION

A library is not a luxury; it is not for the cultured few; it is not merely for the scientific; it is not for any intellectual cult or exclusive literary set. It is a great, broad, universal public benefaction. It lifts the entire community; it is the right arm of the intellectual development of the people, ministering to the wants of those who are already educated and spreading a universal desire for education. It is the upper story of the public school system, while it is a broad field wherein ripe scholars may find a fuller training for their already highly developed faculties. It is above all a splendid instrument for the education and culture of those vast masses of boys and girls that are denied the high privileges of the systematic training of the schools.